Media darling Cheyenne Jackson took a break from reading gossip blogs and establishing his “fresh start” with new fiancé Jason Landau this week to sit down for an interview with a blog called The Backlot.
Ahead of his recycled Mad Men-inspired concert with the L.A. Philharmonic this weekend, the self-described “hambone” dished on everything from being feminine to passing as a heterosexual actor, and even addressed the things we care about most: What inspired those new tattoos, the probing, in-depth specifics of why he divorced his ex to start a new life with a self-help guru, and how that wild jerk-off video ended up on the Internet.
Just kidding! As one would expect from a Logo-owned web property, The Backlot actually addresses only one of these unanswered questions and fills the rest of the interview with fluff. The resulting two-page advertorial sounds like something you’d hear through a hedge in Palm Springs — the tale of an actor “born too late,” laced with more than a few well-placed name drops.
After speaking of his extremely high-profile acting work, Jackson slipped into something more comfortable than his leather harness and tanning goggles for a photoshoot in the courtyard of The Abbey, a gay bar in West Hollywood.
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In the photos, you can catch a glimpse of Jackson’s latest tattoo, which appears to be a dead tree that extends the length of his arm. Swoon!
On whether he believes divorce changed him:
I just fully believe in marriage and forever and soul mates and all that. I think sometimes relationships run their course and it’s part of life, but yeah, it definitely has not soured me. It’s opened my eyes, and I’m tougher than I was for better or for worse.
On future hubby Jason:
We just found each other at a time in life where it just…I can’t even really put it into words. It just is. Sometimes things just are and he’s an amazing person. I’m so happy I know him, but yeah….
On his tattoos:
[points to upper arm] This was for my dad. It’s lyrics to a song that he used to sing to me when I was little. It’s an Elvis song. It’s very, very obscure. It’s called ‘Daddy Big Boots.’ My dad is tone deaf and so it’s so special when he would sing it to me. And honestly, in my concerts, I often would talk about my mom, and in life, just innately, I think, as a gay kid…my dad was always around and an amazing father, but I was always just kind of closer to my mom. And I mentioned my mom one too many times, I guess, one day, and somebody said ‘is your dad still living?’ I was thinking ‘what?! Yes, yes, of course!’ and I thought I needed to foster that relationship more. So last year, on my dad’s birthday, that was my gift to him. This was just between he and I and just something that only he and I have. He’s a Native American, Vietnam vet, body builder man, and this got him good.
On getting grey hair:
I actually kind of like aging.
If you’re looking to read an actual interview that asks questions you don’t already know the answers to, check out Frontiers. Cheyenne is their current cover boy, and he even addresses his sex tape in the accompanying interview:
“I don’t think you can ever really prepare yourself for that,” he says. “All you can do is deal with it. I always live by the adage ‘Your opinion of me is none of my business.’ That’s how I’ve looked at the whole situation the last couple of years. The hardest thing about getting bad press or people writing things that are not true is you can’t do anything to rectify it. You can scream from the mountaintops that it’s not true, but it doesn’t matter. The people it hurts are your family. But all that stuff is in the past, and it’s part of the deal. It taught me some lessons and gave me a fraction of what it’s like for those folks whose every move is on the cover of a magazine. It’s not so fun, but it’s life.”
He also looks a lot hotter in their photos.
dazzer
The Backlot writers are generally courteous about Queerty articles when they reference them.
So the question needs to be asked: ‘Which one of them pissed in your bowl of cornflakes this morning?’
redcarpet
Looks like he surrepticiously changed the subject. I don’t even know why we are calling it a sex tape. It’s a little vid of him jerking off. Big deal! He’s a guy and if he wasn’t making a little vid for his BF he’d be doing it anyway.
It’s not like it’s a video of him in a sling getting gang banged.
jckfmsincty
That is one, ugly tattoo.
NG22
This man should always be in a suit.
My problem with the video (or ‘sex tape’) is that it wasn’t very good. It wasn’t hot. I didn’t enjoy it. For so long, I wanted to have sex with Cheyenne Jackson, and then I saw that, and it was disappointing.
‘No thank you!’
Mezaien
I love to see the one TATS, between his legs?.
dazzer
I forgot to say that The Backlot used to be called AfterElton, which was an incredibly venerated popular culture global culture blog. Then its owners – Logo and MTV – wanted to dumb it down and dumped some of its best writers and editors.
But most of AfterElton’s writers still exist and they weren’t idiots in their previous incarnation and they’re still not now.
Queerty should make some kind of reconciliation because you’re just not right here.
sejjo
Geez he looks so good in a suit. Can’t get over that!
John Harkin
@sejjo: That suit picture is 3 to 4 years old. He’s used the same images in NY and DC
babyg
i want to see whats between your legs